Syria called for an emergency Arab League summit in a bid on Monday to rally regional support in the face of stern United Nations Security Council action that would force greater cooperation from Damascus in the probe of the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister.
But Arab diplomats, already hedging against a lack of broad support for a summit of all 22 members, suggested a smaller gathering of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt might be organised should others decline out of concern over harming ties to the UN resolution’s prime sponsors — the United States, France and Britain.
Speaking at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, the diplomats said Secretary General Amr Moussa sent a special envoy to Gulf countries informing them of the Syrian request. The diplomats, who were not authorised to speak for publication, said Syria hoped for the meeting after Eid el-Fitr, the Muslim religious holiday that concludes the Ramadan month of fasting, either on Wednesday or Thursday.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese political leader Walid Jumblatt, meanwhile, warned that Damascus could face chaos and instability like that now roiling Iraq should President Bashar Assad fail to cooperate with the UN probe into the February 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister who was killed along with 20 other people in a huge bombing on a Beirut street.
”If [he] acts like Saddam did, yes, we are heading to a situation similar to what happened in Iraq,” Jumblatt said in an interview with the Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite television channel late on Sunday. ”But if he acts in order to preserve Syria’s national unity and Syria’s interest before [serving] the brother-in-law, a brother or anyone, he can save Syria.”
Jumblatt was referring to Assad’s brother, Maher Assad, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, the chief of military intelligence, whose names were listed in an initial report submitted by UN investigator Detlev Mehlis on October 28.
The Syrian leader appears to be in an increasingly isolated and weakened position since the initial findings of the probe linked his security services and those in Lebanon, where Damascus held dominion until last April, to the Hariri murder. Critics of the drive to isolate Assad further charge the country could fall into the hands of a radical Islamic regime or another type of leadership far more hostile to the West and Israel.
Media reaction
The Syrian media maintained the drumbeat against UN action on Monday, with the English-language Syria Times saying the resolution as drafted was ”openly politicised” and too heavily influenced by the US.
”It’s immoral and totally unacceptable that the will of the [international] community remains captive to a unilateral diktat and … accepts tyranny and hegemony,” the paper said.
Tishrin, another government newspaper, criticised the proposed UN document as ”tough and unbalanced” and urged the Security Council to adopt ”a balanced and objective” resolution ”that would not be a clear translation of the US administration’s will”.
Al-Thawra daily said the US wants Syria to ”be stripped of its skin, abandon its regional and national role and be turned into a marginal state that carries out orders”, the paper said.
The proposed Security Council document would require Syria to detain anyone the UN investigators consider a suspect and allow investigators determine the location and conditions for questioning. It would freeze assets and impose a travel ban on suspects named by the investigative commission.
In Lebanon, pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud described Hariri’s assassination as ”a big conspiracy” aimed at undermining Lebanon’s stability and its position, including the policy of resisting US-led efforts to promote a peace settlement that Beirut considers favouring Israel’s interests.
While Syria has rejected accusations of its involvement in Hariri’s killing, it buckled under international pressure and withdrew its soldiers from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year presence in its smaller neighbour. It also announced over the weekend that it had formed a commission to carry out its own investigation into the Hariri assassination. — Sapa-AP